Schurz Communications

Franklin D. Schurz Jr. will retire as chief executive officer of Schurz Communications Inc. on June 30, according to an SCI press release. He will remain the company's board chairman. SCI owns The Herald-Mail Co. and Antietam Cable Television in Hagerstown. The SCI board of directors has named Todd F. Schurz to serve as president and CEO effective July 1. Todd Schurz is the son of James M. Schurz of Williamsport, a former Herald-Mail editor and publisher. Based in South Bend, Ind., Schurz Communications Inc. is a diversified, privately owned media company.

Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc., which owns NBC25, said Wednesday it has reached retransmission consent agreements with Comcast and Atlantic Broadband Cable. The agreements mean NBC25 will continue to be carried on cable systems serving southcentral Pennsylvania, Allegany County, Md., and Morgan County, W.Va., according to a written release from Nexstar. "We are pleased to continue our mutually beneficial relationship with these cable systems, which will allow our loyal viewers in these areas to continue to enjoy unique, quality local television service," said Hugh J. Breslin II, vice president and general manager of NBC25.

The Herald-Mail Co. launched a redesigned website Wednesday morning that added several features, including one that allows readers to see in real time which online stories are viewed the most, said Liz Thompson, the company’s digital director. The website's address, www.herald-mail.com , remains the same. Other new features include popular stories from around the Web and enhanced weather features such as local radar on the homepage and weather page. The site also will make it easier for readers to find components of special news reports that could include multiple stories and photographs.

DANVILLE, Ky. -- Mary Schurz, who served as editor and publisher of The Advocate-Messenger in Danville and was a longtime board member of Schurz Communications Inc., died Monday morning at her home following a long illness. She was 71. Schurz served as editor and publisher of The Advocate-Messenger from 1978 to 2006, when she retired and was named chairwoman and editor emeritus. She also was director emeritus of Schurz Communications Inc. (SCI), the Mishawaka, Ind., company that owns The Herald-Mail Co., Antietam Cable Television Inc., The Advocate-Messenger and other media outlets around the nation.

andrews@herald-mail.com Jim Schurz, a former editor and publisher of The Herald-Mail newspapers in Hagerstown, will be inducted into the Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Newspaper Hall of Fame in March. Schurz, the sole 2004 inductee, will join 36 other newspeople in the Hall of Fame. Members include former publisher Katharine Graham and former editor Benjamin Bradlee of The Washington Post, and social commentator H.L. Mencken of Baltimore Sunpapers. Under Schurz's leadership, The Herald-Mail earned a reputation of holding public institutions accountable, said John League, the current editor and publisher, who is MDDC's president-elect.

julieg@herald-mail.com James "Jim" M. Schurz accepted his induction into the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Newspaper Hall of Fame on Friday with humor and humility. "When you voted on me, I'd like to know what the hell you were drinking," the former editor and publisher of The Herald-Mail newspapers said as he accepted his plaque. The induction ceremony was held in front of more than 200 people at the MDDC Press Association's annual editorial awards luncheon in a ballroom at the Sheraton Columbia Hotel.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Schurz Communications Inc., the parent company of The Herald-Mail Co., announced Monday that its board of directors has named Franklin D. Schurz Jr. as the company's chairman of the board and chief executive officer. Schurz has been the company's president and director for the past 23 years. Company officials also announced that Todd F. Schurz has been named president and chief operating officer. Before serving as president and director, Franklin Schurz was editor and publisher of the South Bend Tribune Inc. in South Bend, and The Morning Herald and The Daily Mail in Hagerstown.

MAY 2, 1933-JUNE 10, 2009 WILLIAMSPORT, Md. -- James Montgomery Schurz, 76, of 10713 Bratton Court in Williamsport, Md., died Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at his home peacefully with his family by his side. He was born May 2, 1933, in South Bend, Ind., to the late Franklin Dunn Sr. and Martha Montgomery Schurz. He attended Stanford University, Northwestern University, Thacher School and James Madison School. He was senior vice president of Schurz Communications Inc. He had been editor and publisher of The Herald-Mail Co. in Hagerstown, Md. He started his career in newspapers at the San Francisco Examiner, working as a reporter from 1956 to 1967.

The Herald-Mail has published newspapers for 175 years. We've published a variety of print projects and products, and have published an online edition since 1996. Yet, in all that time, we've never published a book. Later this year, that will change. Our first book will be titled "Washington County, Md., Our Past. Our People. A Historical Portrait. " Like the daily newspaper, the book will be about the community that we serve. It will be the first of many publications of this sort.

HAGERSTOWN - Newspaper employees watched The Daily Mail churn along the press on its farewell run on Friday, the afternoon paper's final glory after 179 years. They were transfixed by the massive press making a sweet racket that no longer will be part of downtown Hagerstown's midday bustle. The Daily Mail - a victim of withering circulation for evening newspapers - isn't going away entirely. It will merge with its 134-year-old sibling, The Morning Herald, starting Monday. The new morning publication, called The Herald-Mail every day, will have all of the same features from the two departing newspapers.

When I walked through the front door of West Virginia University's student newspaper on a cold, gray January day in 1976, little did I know the journey I was about to set out on. Since then, I've been in the same room with three U.S. presidents and met scores of U.S. senators, congressmen and governors. I've interviewed an astronaut (Jim Lovell), an Olympic gold medalist (Jean-Claude Killy) and a larger-than-life preacher (Jerry Falwell). I was able to meet a bunch of media superstars, including all four of my newspaper heroes - Ben Bradlee, Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward and Katherine Graham - the finest foreign affairs reporter-newspaper columnist of his generation, Tom Friedman, and the best political reporter of his era, David Broder.

The Herald-Mail Co. launched a redesigned website Wednesday morning that added several features, including one that allows readers to see in real time which online stories are viewed the most, said Liz Thompson, the company’s digital director. The website's address, www.herald-mail.com , remains the same. Other new features include popular stories from around the Web and enhanced weather features such as local radar on the homepage and weather page. The site also will make it easier for readers to find components of special news reports that could include multiple stories and photographs.

DANVILLE, Ky. -- Mary Schurz, who served as editor and publisher of The Advocate-Messenger in Danville and was a longtime board member of Schurz Communications Inc., died Monday morning at her home following a long illness. She was 71. Schurz served as editor and publisher of The Advocate-Messenger from 1978 to 2006, when she retired and was named chairwoman and editor emeritus. She also was director emeritus of Schurz Communications Inc. (SCI), the Mishawaka, Ind., company that owns The Herald-Mail Co., Antietam Cable Television Inc., The Advocate-Messenger and other media outlets around the nation.

If we were asked to explain the ideals that got us into journalism, a number of us at The Herald-Mail could have taken about an hour to explain - or we could just have pointed to Jim Schurz, editor and publisher of the Herald-Mail for about a dozen years, and since 1986 a senior vice president of Schurz Communications. Everything about Schurz was representative of journalism - real journalism, not the sound-bite serenade that too often passes for the trade in today's tweet-obsessed world.

MAY 2, 1933-JUNE 10, 2009 WILLIAMSPORT, Md. -- James Montgomery Schurz, 76, of 10713 Bratton Court in Williamsport, Md., died Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at his home peacefully with his family by his side. He was born May 2, 1933, in South Bend, Ind., to the late Franklin Dunn Sr. and Martha Montgomery Schurz. He attended Stanford University, Northwestern University, Thacher School and James Madison School. He was senior vice president of Schurz Communications Inc. He had been editor and publisher of The Herald-Mail Co. in Hagerstown, Md. He started his career in newspapers at the San Francisco Examiner, working as a reporter from 1956 to 1967.

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- James M. Schurz, a newsman whose family's nationwide media group includes The Herald-Mail, died Wednesday morning at home, his family said. He was 76. Schurz, who lived near Williamsport, had lung cancer, said his wife, Mary Ann. Schurz's news career included about 18 years with The Herald-Mail. He was editor for about 12 years, including about 11 when he also was publisher. In 1986, he became a senior vice president of Schurz Communications Inc. (SCI)

HAGERSTOWN - Newspaper employees watched The Daily Mail churn along the press on its farewell run on Friday, the afternoon paper's final glory after 179 years. They were transfixed by the massive press making a sweet racket that no longer will be part of downtown Hagerstown's midday bustle. The Daily Mail - a victim of withering circulation for evening newspapers - isn't going away entirely. It will merge with its 134-year-old sibling, The Morning Herald, starting Monday. The new morning publication, called The Herald-Mail every day, will have all of the same features from the two departing newspapers.

Newspaper employees watched The Daily Mail churn along the press on its farewell run on Friday, the afternoon paper's final glory after 179 years. They were transfixed by the massive press making a sweet racket that no longer will be part of downtown Hagerstown's midday bustle. The Daily Mail - a victim of withering circulation for evening newspapers - isn't going away entirely. It will merge with its 134-year-old sibling, The Morning Herald, starting Monday. The new morning publication, called The Herald-Mail every day, will have all of the same features from the two departing newspapers.

Franklin D. Schurz Jr. will retire as chief executive officer of Schurz Communications Inc. on June 30, according to an SCI press release. He will remain the company's board chairman. SCI owns The Herald-Mail Co. and Antietam Cable Television in Hagerstown. The SCI board of directors has named Todd F. Schurz to serve as president and CEO effective July 1. Todd Schurz is the son of James M. Schurz of Williamsport, a former Herald-Mail editor and publisher. Based in South Bend, Ind., Schurz Communications Inc. is a diversified, privately owned media company.